The present invention primarily comprises improvements in the structure of applicant's previously developed roll wrapping machine comprising the subject matter of said aforementioned co-pending application Ser. No. 465,676 now U.S. Pat No. 3,866,389. The invention comprising the subject matter of said co-pending application primarily is directed to the forming of a loose wrapper heat-sealed longitudinally around a tightly coiled roll of sheet material and including means to shrink selected portions of said wrapper, which is formed of heat-shrinkable as well as heat-sealable plastic or synthetic resin material and thereby cause said selected portions of said wrapper to be in close contiguous engagement with said coiled roll of material and thereby maintain the same against uncoiling incident to the entire wrapper being shrunk into overall close contiguous engagement with the coiled roll. The improvements comprising the subject matter of the present application however have been found to be applicable not only to the machine comprising the subject matter of said co-pending application but also machines in which strips of heat-sealable and heat-shrinkable material may be extended around tightly coiled rolls of sheet material at longitudinally spaced locations thereon or, if desired, only a single band may be extended around such roll, if desired, and such bands are subsequently shrunk, by the application of heat, into close contiguous engagement with the coiled rolls of sheet material. Such a machine comprises the subject matter of applicant's prior U.S. Pat No. 3,775,939 dated Dec. 4, 1973. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention is applicable to both banding as well as wrapping machines in which heat-sealable as well as heat-shrinkable materials are disposed around tightly coiled rolls of material such as gift wrapping material and the like.
As referred to in applicant's co-pending application Ser. No. 465,676, one of the continuing problems involved in handling rolls of coiled sheet material, whether wound around a core member or if they are coreless rolls, is to prevent the same from uncoiling until the rolls are suitably wrapped. To accomplish this, the industry has for a substantial period of time resorted to various means for securing such coiled rolls of material against uncoiling as, for example, by utilizing one or more dots of adhesive between the outer end of the material and the next adjoining convolution thereof, applying adhesive strips of different kind at one or more locations over said outermost end of the coiled sheet, as well as certain other means by which the means to restrain uncoiling of the rolls of material are utilized as a preliminary step and as separate or extra operations, to the wrapping of such coiled rolls, thereby adding to the overall expense of producing said roll for ultimate sale.
The machine comprising the subject matter of applicant's co-pending application Ser. No. 465,676 provides means by which tightly coiled rolls of sheet material are introduced to the machine by a rolling motion which rotates said rolls in the direction to maintain them coiled, until they reach a station where a web of wrapping material of heat-shrinkable as well as heat-sealable nature is applied somewhat loosely around the coiled roll and sealed longitudinally, after which the lossely wrapped rolls are subjected to heating means of limited width at longitudinally spaced locations along the wrapper to shrink limited areas thereof into close contiguous relationship with the coiled roll of sheet material therein and thus prevent uncoiling of the roll of material when the partially completed product is subjected to additional means to shrink the entire wrapper into close engagement with the coiled roll of material. Through operation of certain of said machines however, it now has been found that a number of improvements may be included therein and thus render the machine more versatile in operation as well as rendering the operations more efficient and in several respects providing more effective handling of the wrapping and/or banding material, details of which are set forth hereinafter.